Lemon Rice Soup for One

This little treat will keep your insides warm for quite a long while. It’s surprisingly filling, and it’s based on someone else’s idea of a Greek classic, avgolemono soup. I thought it tasted nice, but not lemony or creamy enough to be avgolemono, so I’ll keep working to make that happen.

½ small shallot, diced

¼ cup diced carrots

1 small clove garlic, minced

1 teaspoon vegan butter

1 ½ cup water (or low-salt vegetable stock) (possibly more if your stove runs hot)

¼ cup brown basmati rice (or long-grain brown rice)

Pinch of sea salt or black salt (which has a slightly eggy taste)

1 ¼ teaspoon mellow white miso

½ TBLSP tahini

1 TBLSP fresh lemon juice (more, if you like it acidic)

1 TBLSP nutritional yeast

½ TBLSP dried dill (generous), or 1 TBLSP chopped fresh dill

1. In a small sauce pan, soften the shallots, carrots, and garlic in the butter until the shallots are translucent, about 3 minutes.
2. Add the water or broth, rice, and salt. Bring to a boil.
3. Lower the temperature, and simmer, covered, for 30-35 minutes, or until the rice is cooked through. If all the liquid has evaporated, you’ll probably want to add a bit more at the end.
4. In a small bowl, whisk the miso, tahini, and lemon juice together and add it to the soup, stirring until it’s completely mixed into the soup.
5. Add the nutritional yeast and dill and give it a good stir. I like to use the immersion blender with it, but you could certainly leave it chunky. Add more water or lemon juice (or both) at this point, to taste.
6. Serve hot with crusty bread or crunchy crackers.